Sometimes when a loss is so vast, so devastating, it's actually easier to focus on one large number to represent the toll and not look too deeply at the individuals that comprise the whole.

In the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The New York Times launched "Portraits of Grief," a series of short profiles on many of the more than 3,000 people who died. These small, heartbreaking glimpses into lives cut short are still incredibly painful to read six years later.

But as we approach the sixth anniversary of 9/11, I thought it important to share the story of one victim, not only as a reminder of how much was lost that day, but also to remind us how we should approach our own lives.

Paul Cascio was 23 and a newly-named vice president of Euro Brokers, whose offices were located in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center.

Friends and family describe a young man who lived every day to the fullest, whose "preference was to open his arms wide and rush at the world, sweeping up his younger brother Evan and as many friends as he could," according to the New York Times profile.

His parents told the story of how they expected him to arrive at the family beach house one summer with a single guest. Instead, Paulie, as he was called, showed up with 15 friends in tow.

"'Mom, Mom,' he says, 'how could we choose?', his mother, Janet, recalled" in the profile.

"His enthusiasm was undimmed," the profile went on. "Every weekend was 'incredible!' But fun only became more so if he could share it."

My friend, Judy, grew up in the same Queens neighborhood as Paul's father. At the funeral, she said, Paul's uncle stood and told the capacity crowd in the church that when Paul was a baby, his grandfather would carry him around the dining room, telling him, "Paul Regan Cascio, you're the finest man I know."

It was both a promise and a prophecy.

As the uncle ended his eulogy with tears in his eyes, he concluded with, "Paul Regan Cascio, you're still the finest man I know."

On Paul's legacy.com memorial page, one friend wrote, "I just read an article about your last moments and how you were trying to help someone in distress out of the bldg [sic] when it took your life - I am not surprised you died trying to help someone else! It makes me angry and cry that you died with so much life left to live - but I have to remind myself that you did live each day to their fullest!"

Paul had a passion for life and met each day with a joy for being alive. Can our friends and family say the same about us?

Each day we wake up healthy and safe is another gift we've been given, one that Paul and the other victims of 9/11 don't have. We owe it to ourselves to make the most of that gift and not to waste it.